Place Names of the High Sierra (1926) by Francis P. Farquhar

SUPPLEMENTARY BIOGRAPHIES

ADAMS, James Capen,
born Medway, Massachusetts, 1807; came to California,
1849; abandoned civilization and made his home in the wilds of the
Sierra Nevada, 1852-1855, with headquarters camp between Merced and
Tuolumne rivers, not far from Yosemite; visited Yosemite Valley, 1854;
captured wild animals, especially grizzly-bear cubs, which he reared to
maturity and trained to follow him; traveled widely with his animal train; came
to San Francisco and exhibited his animals (the grizzlies “Samson,” “Lady
Washington,” “Ben Franklin,” with elk, mountain lions, and others), 1855-1859;
sailed for New York, 1860, and contracted with P. T. Barnum, exhibiting
his animals in New England during summer of 1860; died before the end
of that year.
(The Adventures of James Capen Adams, Mountaineer and Grizzly Bear Hunter, of California,
by Theodore H. Hittell, published in
Boston and San Francisco, 1860; reprinted, 1911.)

AGNEW, Jesse Barber,
born Iowa, 1863; son of Abram Agnew, a typical
pioneer, who crossed the plains from Ohio to California several times between
1846 and 1873, when he brought his family and settled in Santa Clara Valley;
Jesse worked for D. K. Zumwalt in Tulare County, 1883-1891; engaged in
seed business in San Jose and San Francisco, 1891-1920; acquired lands in
Kings River Cañon, Horse Corral Meadow and vicinity, in partnership with
Zumwalt; donated eighty acres in Kings River Cañon to Sierra Club, 1924.
(S.C.B., 1924, XII, p. 93.)

AYRES, Thomas A.,
born New Jersey; came to California, 1849; a landscape
painter; accompanied James M. Hutchings on the first tourist trip to Yosemite
Valley, 1855. “In October, 1855, was published a lithographic view of the
Yo Semite Fall (then called Yo-Ham-i-te), from the sketch taken for the
writer by Mr. Thomas Ayres, in the preceding June, and which was the first
pictorial representation of any scene in the great valley ever given to the
public.” (Hutchings:
In the Heart of the Sierras, 1886, p. 97.) This lithograph
was followed shortly afterwards by another showing the general view of the
valley as sketched by Ayres, June 20, 1855
[Editor’s note: the correct date is June 27, 1855.—dea],
the first drawing of Yosemite
ever made. (Same, p. 88.) In 1856, Ayres made a second trip to Yosemite,
this time on his own account, and made a number of drawings, which eventually
found their way to England. (See photographic copies in California
State Library, Sacramento.) Trip described by Ayres in Daily Alta California,
August 6, 1856. These views were exhibited in New York, 1857, and Ayres
was engaged by Harper & Brothers to illustrate several articles on California.
(Sacramento Daily Union, June 1, 1858.) Lost at sea on the “Laura Bevan,”
en route from San Pedro to San Francisco, April, 1858. (Daily Alta California,
May 27, 1858.) “His ingenuity and adaptability to circumstances, with his
uniform kindness and good-nature, made him the very soul of the party.”
(Bunnell:
Discovery of the Yosemite, 1880, p. 311.)

BADÈ, William Frederic,
born Minnesota, 1871; A.B., Moravian College,
Pennsylvania; B.D., 1894; Ph.D., 1898; B.D., Yale, 1895; professor of
languages and Old Testament literature, Moravian College, 1896-1902;
professor of Old Testament literature and Semitic languages, Pacific School of
Religion, Berkeley, California, since 1902. President of Sierra Club,
1919-1922;
a director since 1907; editor Sierra Club Bulletin, 1911-1922; editor
Life and Letters of John Muir,
2 volumes, 1923-1924; editor of Muir’s
A Thousand-Mile Walk to the Gulf (1916),
The Cruise of the Corwin (1917),
Steep Trails (1918).

BOLING (or Bowling), John;
captain of one of three companies of Mariposa
Battalion, 1851; name spelled Boling by Bunnell, Bowling in
Elliott’s History of Fresno County
and by Kuykendall; on first expedition to Yosemite Valley,
March, 1851; on expedition in pursuit of Indians in upper San Joaquin
region; in command of second expedition to Yosemite, May, 1851, going as
far as Lake Tenaya; sheriff of Mariposa. County, 1852. (Bunnell:
Discovery of the Yosemite,
1880.—R. S. Kuykendall:
Early History of Yosemite Valley,
in The Grizzly Bear, July, 1919, reprinted by National Park Service,
Department of the Interior.—W. W. Elliott: History of Fresno County, 1882.)

CARSON, Christopher (“Kit”),
born Kentucky, 1809; boyhood in Missouri;
accompanied Ewing Young’s band of beaver trappers to Arizona and California,
1829-1830; hunter and trapper in Rocky Mountains, 1831-1842; accompanied
Fremont on expeditions of 1842 (to Rocky Mountains), 1843-1844
(to Oregon and California), 1845-1846 (to California) ; on last of these
expeditions accompanied Fremont in search of other members of party, going
far up into High Sierra between north and middle forks of Kings River in
midwinter, 1845-1846; joined General Kearny’s forces as guide on way from
New Mexico to southern California, October, 1846; bearer of dispatches to
Washington with Lieutenant Edward F. Beale, 1847; returned to California,
1853, with a band of sheep; Indian agent at Taos, New Mexico, from 1854;
suppression of Indian war parties in southwest; colonel, New Mexico Infantry,
1861-1866; brevet brigadier-general of volunteers, 1865; died, 1863.
(DeWitt C. Peters: The Life and Adventures of Kit Carson, 1858 (new
edition, 1873).—Charles Burdett: The Life and Adventures of Kit Carson,
1861.—J. S. C. Abbott: Christopher Carson, Known as Kit Carson, 1901.—
E. L. Sabin: Kit Carson Days, 1914.—Charles L. Camp:
Kit Carson in California,
in California Historical Society Quarterly, October, 1922, I:2.—See,
also, references under Fremont.)

CRAVEN, Alfred,
born New Jersey, 1846; graduated U. S. Naval Academy,
1867, resigned as Master, U.S.N., 1871; assistant in Geological Survey of
California (Whitney Survey), 1871-1874, associated as mining engineer with
brothers-in-law, Ross E. Browne and Charles F. Hoffmann, 1874-1884;
engineering work in New York State since 1884; chief engineer New York
subway, 1910-1916; now living at Pleasantville, New York,
1926.

DAVIDSON, George,
born Nottingham, Eng., 1825; came to United States,
1832; A.B., Central High School, Philadelphia, 1845; A.M., 1850; Ph.D.,
Santa Clara College, 1876; Sc.D., University of Pennsylvania, 1889; LL.D.,
University of California, 1910; member of U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey,
1845-1895; in coast survey work, California, Oregon, Washington, 1850-1895;
a regent of University of California, 1877-1884; professor of geography,
University of California, 1898-1911; president California Academy of Sciences,
1871-1887; a charter member and for many years a director of the Sierra
Club; conducted important triangulation work in the Sierra, using Mount
Conness as a station; died, 1911.
(S.C.B., 1912, VIII:3, p. 212, portrait.—
Davidson: The Occupation of Mount Conness, in Overland Monthly,
February, 1892.)

EISEN, Gustavus A.,
born Sweden, 1847; Ph.D., University of Upsala, 1872;
came to United States, 1872, and to California, 1873; visited Yosemite and
Mono region, 1874, with Dr. Friedrich Ratzel, of Leipsig; manager of his
brother’s vineyard, Fresno, 1874-1880 visiting High Sierra each summer,
usually with Frank Dusy; became interested in preserving Big Trees,
lecturing on the subject before the California Academy of Sciences; member of
committee appointed by Academy to prepare map and mark boundaries of
proposed national park; this work, coinciding with activities of George W.
Stewart, Frank J. Walker, and others, of Visalia, led to establishment of
Sequoia and General Grant national parks, 1890; engaged in wide variety of
scientific and archaeological research; author of many books and papers;
now (1926) living in New York City.

FREMONT, John Charles,
born Savannah, Georgia, 1813; second lieutenant,
Topographical Engineers, U. S. Army, 1838; brevet captain, 1844; resigned,
1848; major-general, 1861; resigned, 1864; major-general (retired), 1890;
major, California Volunteers, 1846; married Jessie Benton, daughter of
Senator Thomas H. Benton, of Missouri, 1841; engaged in a series of exploring
expeditions, 1838-1854; U. S. Senator from California, 1850-1851; first
Republican nominee for presidency, 1856, defeated by Buchanan; governor of
Territory of Arizona, 1878-1881; died at New York City, 1890. On second
exploring expedition under his command, 1843-1844, crossed Sierra Nevada by
Carson Pass; from Sutter’s Fort (Sacramento), went south on east side of
San Joaquin Valley and crossed Tehachapi. On third expedition, 1845-1846,
crossed Sierra by Donner Pass, while others of his party, including Talbot,
Walker, and Kern, went south by Owens Lake and crossed to Kern River via
Walkers Pass; Fremont, Carson, and others, in searching for them, ascended
high into the Sierra between north and middle forks of Kings River,
December, 1845, and January, 1846. (Memoirs, pp. 448-453.)
(Fremont: Memoirs of My Life, vol. I [no others published], 1887;
Report of the Exploring Expedition to the Rocky Mountains in the Year 1842, and to Oregon and Northern California in the Years 1843-’44,
1845;
Geographical Memoir upon Upper California, in Illustration of His Map of Oregon and California,
1848.
—Frederick S. Dellenbaugh: Fremont and ’49, 1914.)

LAMON, James C.,
born Virginia, 1817; emigrated to Illinois, 1835, and
Texas, 1839; came to California, 1851, and settled in Mariposa County;
visited Yosemite, 1857 and 1858; came to Yosemite early in 1859, assisted in
building hotel (known for a while as the Hutchings House, later as Cedar
Cottage) ; located pre-emption claim at upper end of valley, cultivated garden,
planted orchard, built a cabin; began to winter in the valley, 1862; second
winter, built another cabin near Royal Arches; pre-emption claims denied by
courts, but he received compensation of $12,000 by act of state legislature,
1874; died in Yosemite Valley, 1875. (Muir:
The Yosemite, 1912,
pp. 237-239.—Hutchings:
In the Heart of the Sierras,
1886, pp. 135-138.)

LEWIS, Washington Bartlett,
born Marquette, Michigan, 1884; B.S. in civil
engineering, University of Michigan, 1907; member of U. S. Geological
Survey, 1907-1916; surveyed in Wyoming, 1907-1908; head topographer with
first National Geographic Society expedition to Alaska, 1909, studying glaciers
in Yakutat Bay region; topographic surveys in Oregon and in Salinas Valley,
California, 1909-1910; second Alaska expedition, 1910, in Prince William
Sound and Copper River regions; member U.S.G.S. commission to Argentine
Republic, under Bailey Willis, 1911-1915; surveyed in Texas, 1915;
superintendent of Yosemite National Park since March 3, 1916.

MOORE, Tredwell,
born Ohio; graduated U. S. Military Academy, second
lieutenant, 1847; first lieutenant, 1851; captain, 1859; major, 1866;
lieutenant-colonel, 1872;
brevet brigadier-general, 1865; died, 1876. On duty with 2nd
Infantry in Mariposa County, 1851-1852; built part of Fort Miller on San
Joaquin River; led party of troops to Yosemite, capturing and executing
Indians who had killed two miners near Bridalveil Falls, and pursued Chief
Tenaya and other Indians across the Sierra, June and July, 1852, returning in
August.

“Lieutenant Moore crossed the Sierra over the Mono trail that leads by
the Soda Springs through the Mono Pass. He made some fair discoveries of
gold and gold-bearing quartz, obsidian and other minerals, while exploring
the region north and south of Bloody Cañon and of Mono Lake. Finding no
trace whatever of the cunning chief, he returned to the Soda Springs, and
from there took his homeward journey to Fort Miller by way of the old trail
that passed to the south of the Yosemite.” (Bunnell:
Discovery of the
Yosemite, 1880, p. 277.)

PRICE, Robert Martin,
born Wisconsin, 1867; at age of ten, family moved
to Nebraska; moved to Riverside, California, 1881; Ph.B., University of
California, 1893; LL.B., Hastings College of Law, 1896; practiced law in San
Francisco, 1896-1900, in Alaska, 1900-1903, in Reno, Nevada, since 1904. A
charter member of the Sierra Club; secretary, 1896-1900; a director since
1915; president, 1924-1925. Contributor to Sierra Club Bulletin: 1893, I:1;
1895, I:6; 1912, VIII:3, 1922, XI:3.

SAVAGE, James D.,
had trading post and mining camp on Merced River,
1849-1850; driven by Indian raids to Mariposa Creek, 1850; also had a
branch post on Fresno River; Mariposa Battalion formed, with Savage as
major; at head of two companies, pursued Indians to cañon of the Merced,
being first white men to enter Yosemite Valley, March 25, 1851; after Indian
disturbances were quieted, Savage resumed trading on Fresno River; murdered,
August, 1852. (Bunnell:
Discovery of the Yosemite, 1880.—R. S. Kuykendall:
Early History of Yosemite Valley,
in The Grizzly Bear, July, 1919,
reprinted
by National Park Service, Department of the Interior.—W. W. Elliott:
History of Fresno County, 1882.—
Daily Alta California, San Francisco, April 23, 1851.)

SMITH, Jedediah Strong,
born Chenango County, New York, 1798; came to
St. Louis at early age and spent several years in Indian country; with David
E. Jackson and Milton L. Sublette, acquired William Henry Ashley’s interest
in Rocky Mountain fur trade, 1826; Smith undertook exploration for new
beaver country in southwest and was leader of first party of white men to
make overland journey from Mississippi Valley to California; passed through
southwestern Utah, crossed Cajon Pass, arriving at San Gabriel, November,
1826; crossed to San Joaquin Valley, probably via Tehachapi, and camped
near Kings River early in 1827.

“On my arrival at a River which I called the Wim-mel-che, (named after
a Tribe of Indians who reside on it of that name) I found a few Beaver.—
& Elk, Deer & antelope in abundance. I here made a small hunt, and
attempted to take my party across the [mountain] which I before mentioned,
& which I called Mount Joseph, to come on & join my Partners at the Great
Salt Lake.—I found the Snow so deep on Mount Joseph, that I could not
cross my horses,—five of which starved to death. I was compelled therefore
to return to the Valley which I had left. And there leaving my party, I started
with two men, seven horses & 2 Mules, which I loaded with hay for the horses
& provisions for ourselves, and Started on the 20th of May & succeeded in
crossing it in 8 days—having lost only two horses & 1 mule. I found the snow
on the top of this mountain from 4 to 8 feet deep but it was so consolidated
by the heat of the sun, that my horses only sunk from 1/2 foot to one foot deep.
“After travelling 20 days from the East side of Mount Joseph, I struck the
S.W. corner of the Great Salt Lake, travelling over a country completely
barren, and destitute of game.” (Letter from Jedediah S. Smith to General
William Clark, Superintendent of Indian Affairs; dated from Little Lake
of Bear River, July 12, 1827; quoted verbatim from original in office of
Indian Affairs, Washington, by C. Hart Merriam in
California Historical Society Quarterly,
October, 1923, II:3, pp. 233-236.)

This was the first known crossing of the Sierra Nevada by white men.
Smith promptly returned via southwest and rejoined his men near American
River; thence moved north through Sacramento Valley to coast of northern
California and southern Oregon; escaped with two men from massacre by
Indians on Umpqua River, July 14, 1828; reached safety at Fort Vancouver
on Columbia River; returned to Rocky Mountains in summer of 1829; Sold
his interest in fur trade and reached St. Louis, October, 1830; set out on
Santa Fé Trail in spring of 1831; murdered by Comanche Indians on the
Cimarron, 1831. (H. C. Dale: The Ashley-Smith Explorations, 1918.—C.
Hart Merriam: in S.C.B., 1923, XII:4, pp. 375-379; in
California Historical Society Quarterly,
October, 1923, H:3, pp. 228-236; in same, April, 1924,
III:1, pp. 25-29.—
F. N. Fletcher, in California Historical Society Quarterly,
January, 1924, II:4, pp. 344-349.)

SOLOMONS, Theodore Seixas,
born San Francisco, 1870; stenographer,
photographer,
journalist, lawyer, miner, fiction writer; pioneer and explorer in the
High Sierra; went to Alaska, 1898, and remained ten years; later in New
York; now (1926) living in California. Explored and named Evolution
Group and was first to propose high mountain trail route along crest of Sierra.
A charter member of Sierra Club.

Publications on High Sierra: Among the Sources of the San Joaquin, in
S.C.B., 1894, I:3;
A Search for a High Mountain Route from the Yosemite to the Kings River Cañon,
in S.C.B., 1895, I:6;
An Early Summer Excursion to the Tuolumne Cañon and Mt. Lyell,
in S.C.B., 1897, II:1; An Ascent of Cathedral Peak,
in S.C.B., 1901, III:3; Mt. Goddard and Its Vicinity, in Appalachia,
January, 1896, VIII:1; The Grand Cañon of the Tuolumne,
in Appalachia,
November, 1896, VIII:2,
Explorations in the Sierra Nevada During the Season of 1896,
in Appalachia, July, 1897, VII:3;
Unexplored Regions of the High Sierra,
six articles in Overland Monthly, May, June, August, November, 1896,
and January, August, 1897; Grand Cañon of the Tuolumne,
in The Traveler,
December, 1894; In a Crevasse of the Lyell Glacier, (fiction),
in The Traveler,
May, 1895; An Enchanted Gorge, in The Traveler, November, 1895;
Tehipite Valley, in The Traveler, May, 1896.

SOVULEWSKI, Gabriel,
born Suwalki, Poland, 1866; came to United States,
1882; lived in Chicago until 1888; enlisted, 1888, and served two five-year
enlistments in Troop K, 4th U. S. Cavalry: corporal, 1892; sergeant, 1893;
quartermaster-sergeant, 1898. While serving in the army, was on duty in
Sequoia and General Grant national parks, 1891, 1892; in Yosemite National
Park, 1895, 1896, 1897. In the Philippines, 1898. In Yosemite National Park,
as packer for troops, 1899. Employee of street-railway company,
San Francisco, 1901-1906;
relief work with army quartermaster department after San
Francisco fire, 1906. Since August, 1906, in Yosemite National Park—first
as laborer, then as supervisor of the park in charge of all outside work,
especially trail construction and road maintenance; in full charge of park
during absence of army superintendents; since 1916, supervisor of trails and
other duties in the park.

“[Corporal Gabriel Sovulewski], Troop K, Fourth Cavalry, had charge of
the guard in General Grant Park until a few days ago, and showed great tact
in his relations with the numerous visitors, while he performed the duties
required of him with firmness and thoroughness.”
(Report of the Acting-Superintendent [Captain J. H. Dorst]
of Sequoia and General Grant National Parks for 1892, p. 21.)

STEWART, George W.,
born Smith’s Flat, near Placerville, California, 1857;
lived in El Dorado County until 1869, then Santa Cruz County until 1872,
when he moved to Tulare County; wrote for Visalia Delta, 1876-1880;
associate editor,
Mining and Scientific Press, San Francisco, 1880; editorial work
in Hawaii, 1880-1883; returned to Visalia, 1885, and resumed work on the
Delta, continuing until 1899; officer of California National Guard since 1887,
attaining rank of lieutenant-colonel; register of U. S. Land Office at Visalia,
1898-1914; land attorney at Visalia since 1914; first visited High Sierra in
1875; while editor of Visalia Delta, took active part in preserving the big
trees, and is properly regarded as “the father” of Sequoia National Park;
organizer and president of The Mount Whitney Club, 1902-1904, and editor
of the three numbers of its journal; now living at Visalia, 1926.

TAPPAAN, Clair Sprague;
A.B., Cornell, 1898; LL.B., 1900; professor of law,
University of Southern California, Los Angeles; a director of the Sierra Club,
and assistant manager of its high-mountain outings since 1912; president of
the Sierra Club, 1922-1924.

WHEELER, George Montague,
(1842-1905); graduated U. S. Military Academy,
second lieutenant, engineers, 1866; assistant engineer in construction of
defenses of Fort Point, San Francisco, 1866-1868; first lieutenant, 1867; on
geographical reconnaissance in central Nevada, 1869; in charge of
Geographical Surveys West of the 100th Meridian, 1871-1879; captain, 1879;
retired by illness, 1888; rank of major, 1898.

WHITE, John Roberts,
born Reading, England, 1879; served in the Greek
Foreign Legion in 1897, fighting against the Turks in Thessaly; came to
Canada, 1898, and then to Alaska; enlisted in the 4th U. S. Infantry for duty
in the Philippines, 1899, and spent the next fifteen years in the Philippine
Islands; transferred to the Philippine Constabulary, 1901, as second
lieutenant;
became lieutenant-colonel, 1908, and colonel, 1914; medal for valor in
Moro campaign at Jolo, 1906; in many engagements with insurgents; governor
of Agusan province, 1911; retired from Constabulary, 1914, because of
physical disability in line of duty; special representative of American Red
Cross in Central Europe, 1916; entered military training camp, 1917,
commissioned major, and later, lieutenant-colonel, U. S. Army; attached to
Adjutant General’s office,
then Signal Corps; qualified as pilot in aviation; to
France with A.E.F., September, 1918; provost-marshal of Paris after the
armistice; resigned from army because of ill-health and sought recuperation
at Grand Cañon National Park, where he was made chief ranger;
superintendent of Sequoia and General Grant national parks since July 12, 1920.

WINCHELL, Elisha Cotton,
born Springfield, Massachusetts, 1826;
emigrated to Missouri, 1835;
crossed the plains to California, 1850, and settled in
Sacramento, practicing law; moved to Millerton, on San Joaquin River, then
county seat of Fresno County, 1859; district attorney, 1861; county judge,
1864-1867; when county seat was moved to site of Fresno, 1874, he established
first law office in Fresno; continued practice of law until 1900; died, 1913.
Visited Kings River Cañon, September, 1868, and published account in t San
Francisco Morning Call, September 11 and 12, 1872. (Reprinted in S.C.B.,
1926, XII:3, pp. 237-249.)

WINCHELL, Lilbourne Alsip,
born Sacramento, 1855, son of Elisha Cotton
Winchell; grew up in close association with pioneers of the San Joaquin
Valley and adjacent mountains; educated in San Francisco; spent five months in
High Sierra, 1879, visiting Tehipite Valley with Frank Dusy, exploring
Palisade region, and making first ascent of Mount Goddard with Louis W. Davis;
other extensive exploring trips in High Sierra extending over period of many
years; now living in Clovis, Fresno County, 1926. (Portrait in S.C.B.,
1923,
XI:4, plate CXII.)

YELVERTON, Maria Teresa Longworth,
known as Thérèse Yelverton,
Viscountess Avonmore, born 1832; married Major William Charles Yelverton,
Viscount Avonmore, 1857; marriage denied by Yelverton; litigation to
establish
validity brought great notoriety; Yelverton disappeared; she traveled
widely and published several books; visited Yosemite, 1870, where she wrote
“
Zanita: A Tale of the Yosemite,”
published 1872, a romantic novel in which
the characters represent John Muir and James M. Hutchings and his family,
especially Florence Hutchings (“Zanita”); died, 1881.
(Charles Warren Stoddard:
In the Footprints of the Padres, 1902;
chapter, “A Mysterious History,”
omitted from later edition.—Badè
Life and Letters of John Muir. vol. I,
1923, pp. 278-283.)